Curtain-stretcher.



E. E. SIMPSON.

CURTAIN STRETCHER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 15. 1916.

1,245,280. Patented Nov. 6,1917.

WITNESSES ATTORNEY EDWARD E. SIMPSON, OF OAKLAND, IOWA.

CURTAIN-STRETGI-IER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

Application filed April 15, 1916. Serial No. 91,332.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD E. SIMPSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oakland, in the county of Potta-wattarnie and State of Iowa,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Curtain-Stretchers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to curtain stretchers and more particularly to aclass of ourtain vstretchers which are employed for stretching lacecurtains after they have been washed'and while they are drying.

The invention further aims to provide a curtain stretcher that willsecurely hold the edges of the curtain without danger of injury beingdone thereto and one which may be adjusted to any desired width forreceiving various sizes of curtains.

A further object of this invention is the provision of curtain stretcherwhich consists of comparatively few parts and is simple in construction,but durable and well adapted to withstand the rough usage to whichdevices of this character are ordinarily subjected.

For a full description of the invention and the advantages and meritsthereof, reference is to be had to the following description and theaccompanying drawings, wherein is illustrated the preferred form of myinvention, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view.

Fig. 2 is an edge elevation.

Fig. 3 is a vertical fragmentary section on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section on the line H of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section on the line 55 of Fig. 1.

A pair of supporting bars 1 are provided which have their endsbifurcated to provide a slot 2. The center of each of the supportingbars 1 has a recess 3 which is cut inwardly from the bottom face of thesupporting bars and mounted in the recesses 3 is a central spacing barat which has one end secured to one of the supporting bars 1 by means ofthe fastening bolt 5. The spacing bars 5 are mounted in bifurcations 2of the supporting bars 1 and one of the supporting bars may be slidablyadjusted on the spacing bars 4 and 5 for clamping different sizes ofcurtains. The adjustment of the spacing bars is accomplished byloosening the nuts which extend through the bifurcations and thecorresponding spacing bars. Mounted on each of the spacing bars 1 is aclamp bar 6 which is designed to clamp the edges of the curtain to thetop face of the supporting bars 1 and to accomplish this each of thebars 1 and 6 have a plurality of al'ining apertures 7 and 8 throughwhich clamp bolts 9 are extended and are clamped together by the thumbnuts '10 which are screw threadcdly mounted on each of the clamp'bolts9.

As has been stated the central spacing bar tis secured to one of thesupporting bars 1 by means of the fastening bolt 5'. This bolt extendsthrough one of the clamp bars 6 and is provided with an elongated washer11 upon which the thumb nut 12 bears when the central spacing bar 4; isbolted in-position'. The opposite end of the central spacing bar 4 isclamped into position by means of the yoke-clamp 13 which is clamped tothe stretcher after the sliding supporting bar has been adjusted to theproper width for receiving the curtain to be stretched.

In order that the end edges of the lace curtain may be held in positionso that the edges will be straight while the curtain is being dried. Iprovide each of the end spacing bars 5 with clamp strips 6 which restupon the top of the spacing bars 5 and are clamped thereto bv the clamps13 which are similar in construction to the clamps 13. Any number ofthese clamps strips 6 may be employed according to the width of thecurtain. From this construction it will be observed that the edges atboth the sides and ends of the curtain will be held in fixed position.

In operation it is only necessary to loosen the thumb nuts 10, place theedges of the curtain between the clamp bars 6 and the supporting bars 1and, by virtue of the position of the bolts adjacent the outer edge ofthe bars, the curtain finds sufficient clamping surface adjacent theinner edges of the supporting and clamping bars. The thumb nuts are thentightly screwed upon the clamp bolts 9 and the curtain will be instretched positicn for drying.

In reduction to practice I have found that the form of my inventionillustrated in the drawings and referred to in the above description, asthe preferred embodiment, is the most efficient and practicable, yetrealizing that the conditions concurrent with the adoption of my devicewill necessarily vary, I desire to emphasize the fact that various minorchanges in the details of construction, proportion and arrangement ofparts may be resorted to, when required, Without sacrific: ing any ofthe advantages of my invention, as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A curtain stretcher including a pair of parallel supporting bars,each having a transverse recess provided on its bottom surfaceintermediate its ends, each end of each bar being also bifurcated toprovide a slot at'each end of each bar, spacing bars mounted in theslots, and a central spacing bar mounted in the said recesses, a clampbar mounted upon each supporting oar, clamp bolts clamping the clampbars to the said supporting bars, some of the said bolts eX- tendingthrough the bifurcated ends of the supporting bars to clamp the ends ofthe spacing bars in the said slots, means for pivotally fixing one endof the central spacing bar to one of the supporting bars, and a clampreleasably fixing the opposite end of the central spacing bar to theother of said supporting bars.

2. A curtain stretcher including a pair of Copies of this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,i

parallel supporting bars, each having a transverse recess provided onits bottom surface intermediate its ends, each end of each bar beingalSO bifurcated to provide a slot at each end of each bar, spacing barsmounted in the slots, and a central spacing bar mounted in the saidrecesses, a clamp bar mounted upon each supporting bar, clamp boltsclamping the clamp bars to the said supporting bars, some of the saidbolts extending through the bifurcated ends of the supporting bars toclamp the ends of the spacing bars in the said slots, means forpivotally fixing one end of the central spacing bar to one of thesupporting bars, a clamp releasably fixing the opposite end of thecentral spacing bar to the other of said supporting bars, the said meansincluding an elongated washer, and a thumb-nut operating on the washerto clamp the same in tight gngagement with the corresponding clamp Intestimonv whereof I a-iiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD E. SIMPSON.

Witnesses W. W. MoRoRY, L. C. HANNAH.

Washington, D. C.

